Happy Birthday to the Cloak of Levitation
by sudoku
Summary: The Cloak of Levitation had been acting weird until Stephen decided to throw a birthday party for her. A cheesecake, some snarks /banters and baking disaster might be involved.
1. The Invitation

-Not a native speaker and not beta read so please kindly point out any mistakes

* * *

"Christine, could you come over to my place on Saturday night?"

"Why? Do you plan to get into another dimension and get injured again? Some of us have a life outside taking care of an idiotic cult leader."

"It's not a cult and I'm not the leader." Stephen felt guilty that lately he had made her his go-to doctor whenever he couldn't treat himself. Christine certainly deserved better. "It's a party."

She chuckled. "That's a good one. Have you been practicing on your jokes again?"

"I wasn't joking." He hope his indignant tone could get through via the phone.

"What?! You? Party? You hardly have any friends. You've said it yourself that the Avengers are your colleagues, not friends."

"They're going to be busy on Saturday anyway."

"How do you know that? Don't tell me you use your psychic powers?"

Stephen was grateful that she couldn't see his blush. "Nah, I'm just a member of the Avengers' group chat but I hardly participate."

"The Avengers have a group chat?! Of course, they have a group chat. Who am I kidding? And you never told me you are in the group."

"I thought it was not important. Besides, it's not about them, it's about you. Do you want to come?"

"So who else will be there? Wong?"

"Yes."

"Anyone else from Kamar-Taj?"

"Master Hamir put a maybe. The rest is too busy doing their jobs"

"I thought you're usually busy doing your job as well. So what gives?"

"It's Sophie." Hearing her name mentioned, the Cloak in question straightened up.

"What about her? Did she ask you to throw a party?"

"Yes."

"Stephen?! Be serious."

"Well, she didn't exactly __ask__ me to throw a party."

* * *

 _One week ago_

Whenever Stephen wanted to pull Sophie toward him, she always ran away. It had been going on for three days.

He went to chase after her up to the stairs. "Sophie, that's enough. You need to tell me what I have done wrong. You know men like me are idiots, right? We can't really tell feelings so you need to tell me why you are angry at me."

The Cloak stopped and looked him up down as if appraising him. She bobbed her collars and flew back downstairs toward the library. He followed. She picked up a table calendar and passed it to him.

"Why did you give me a calendar? Do I miss an important date? Oh, gosh, perhaps it's time to reseal the gateway to Azelot but I forgot because I'm an idiot. Or is it the time to train the new acolytes? Or is the time to visit Jodungot again for a peace talk?"

She went to shove him hard but not too hard (because she would never hurt him) toward the kitchen. He went in. She pointed at the small cupcakes he just bought this morning. They were on sale!

"Do you want those cakes? But how are you going to eat them?"

She shook her collars. She pointed a chair and motioned him to sit on the chair. He shrugged and sat. She flew out of the room.

A few minutes later she came back with the calendar and a candle. He was thankful that at least the candle was not burning because he didn't know whether she was flammable and he didn't want to find out the hard way. She dropped the calendar on his lap. She stick the candle on top of a cupcake.

"Do you want a birthday cake?"

She shook her collars. He could have shown she looked disappointed. She pointed at the calendar.

Suddenly he got it. "There is an upcoming birthday." She nodded. "And it's yours." She nodded repeatedly. "I'm an idiot for never thinking about your birthday or rather the day you were made." She flew to settle on his shoulders and massaged him. He patted her. "Welcome back. When is it?"

Her bottom right corner flipped through the calendar until it pointed to October. She then pointed the date, the 20th. "So your birthday is on the 20th of October. Do yo know the year?" She slapped him. "Of course you know the year. How old are you?"

She left him to fly to the corner. "Yeah, of course, it's not polite to ask a lady about her age. Please come back here. Do you want me to throw you a party?" That got her attention and she flew back to float in front of him.

"Unfortunately, I don't have many friends." She just pointed at herself and Stephen and went to hug him from the front. "Oh right, as long as I'm there to celebrate it with you, you're alright." She nodded enthusiastically. "I'm still going to invite Wong and Christine, perhaps the Avengers if they're free." He knew how sad it was that he treated the Avengers who were mostly his colleagues, or at least that was how Tony put it, as his friends. He really needed to get out more but not in the interdimension travel for peacekeeping variety kind.

"There will be a party then."

She vibrated with excitement.

* * *

Christine laughed when he finished his story. "Aww, Stephen, I didn't know you're such a softie. Throwing a party for your best friend."

"I thought you are my best friend."

"One of your best friends then. You're allowed to have more than one. And is it just me or do you find it __strange__ that one of your BFFs is a cloak?"

"Haha, very punny. Are you coming?"

"Of course I'm coming. I do it just for her, you know, not for you."

"Yes, yes, I understand. See you tomorrow at 7 then."

"Do I need to bring a gift? What can I give to her?"

"Bye, Christine." He hung up. Good question though. He didn't know what to give as a gift.

* * *

He opened a portal to the library.

Wong looked up unamused from his book. "Stephen, you've borrowed twenty books. Usually people can only borrow ten. I gave you some leeway because otherwise you're going to steal them anyway."

"It's good to see you too, Wong. How was your day?"

The librarian stared at him. They had staring contest that lasted around 37 seconds before the doctor gave up. "Fine, you win. Would you come tomorrow at 7 pm New York Time to celebrate the birthday of the Cloak of Levitation?"

He nodded. "It's about time you show some respects toward those relics. Will there be cakes?"

"Well, there will at least be a cake. Sophie had been dropping pictures of cheesecakes in my study so I got the hint. Do you how expensive a cheesecake in New York or any other place is with our no-pay? Why don't we get any money for our job? We still need to eat."

"Strange, focus."

"Yeah, right. There'ill at least be a cheesecake. I'll be the one making it. Christine has sent me a great recipe. She said it's a foolproof recipe so even I couldn't mess it up."

"She is a smart one. I'll be there."

"Are you not afraid eating my first attempt to make a cake?"

"Bye, Stephen."

Stephen nodded and opened a portal back to his study. He needed to throw a party for a Cloak, well, not any cloak, but the Cloak of Levitation. How did his life become so strange? (Yes, he was allowed to make fun of his own name).

* * *

Notes: -Blame this on my insomnia. Apparently whenever I've a insomnia my muse decided it's time to start a new story. Please tell me what you think. Chapter 2 might be published after the Cloak's fictional date of birth.


	2. The Party

-Non native speaker and unbetaed so please kindly point out any mistakes  
-Warning: inaccurate cheesecake making description

* * *

 _8 am, New York's Sanctum Sanctorum_

"This recipe is a piece of cake". Stephen chuckled as he opened the recipe link.

He looked at the video first.

 _Cut the cream cheese into chunks and place in the bowl of an electric mixer, with the paddle attachment._

"I don't know if we have any electric mixer, do we?" The Cloak just gave a non-committal shrug which was quite a feat since she had no face expression.

He hoped this making a cake was a one-off thing so he didn't really want to spend money to buy an electric mixer. Perhaps making a birthday cake when he hadn't baked any cake in his life was not a great idea. He could cook but not bake. He could imagine Wong's smirk so he was determined to finish this task.

The logical place to look was the pantry. With the advantage of being able to levitate, the Cloak searched the upper cupboards while Stephen looked at the rest of the cupboards. They couldn't find any mixer. Two hours later, they managed to find some herbs and more cauldrons. He was excited because they could be used for some spells that he just learned. He took stock of his inventory and recorded it in his StarkPad, courtesy of Stark when he helped the Avengers in a demonic case. Despite what Wong and Christine thought, he was _not_ a total idiot.

He and Sophie continued to search the rest of the Sanctum starting from the ground floor. He created a spell which he regretted didn't use earlier to find anything metal within certain size ranges. The whole endeavor took around 1.5 hours and he ended up with a lot more junks and some more relics. He catalogued the relics. He put the junks in the eastern corner of his ground floor study room. Perhaps Wong could help identified those items using his self-promoted librarian superpower. His face lit up with glee as he imagined the librarian would spend a lot of late nights on Google Images.

Three and a half hours later, he ended up with an updated catalogue of relics, a sore back, and a friend with bad mood. The Cloak left by slamming the door behind her.

Perhaps he needed to use a spell to mix the cake ala Beauty and the Beast. He was glad that he was nowhere like the Beast or the Beauty. He was never a prince as he was not from high born; he had the arrogance. He'd never hear the end of it if Wong drew a parallel between him and Belle with their bookworm tendency. He preferred to be the Enchantress in that case.

"Do you want to watch the rest of the video?" He yelled as he opened the pantry door. Within three seconds, Sophie zoomed back.

 _For the crust:_

 _1 3/4 cups (230g) of Graham cracker crumbs (from about 15 Graham crackers)_

 _2 Tbsp sugar_

 _Pinch salt_

 _4 Tbsp plus 1 teaspoon (60g) unsalted butter (if using salted butter, omit the pinch of salt), melted_

He needed to shop for the ingredients. Magic could save some labor but it couldn't create material out of thin air. The law of conservation of energy still applied even in magic world. Besides, he could use some lunch on the way.

He thought, "I could just drop by Anne's. I want to check how her granddaughter is doing after my last exorcism."

He checked on the ingredients for filling, sour cream topping, and raspberry sauce. He scrunched his forehead. "These are not cheap." The Cloak massaged his temples slowly.

"You really want the cake, don't you?"

The Cloak left his shoulders to bop her collar at his eye level.

"Fine, anything for you."

The Cloak did a twirl and returned to his shoulders.

He looked at the required equipment.

 _ **Special equipment:**_

 _9-inch, 2 3/4-inch high springform pan_

 _Heavy-duty, 18-inch wide aluminum foil_

 _A large, high-sided roasting pan_

"We've the roasting pan and aluminum foil but not the springform pan." He checked the price online and it was around $25. He would make use of something else because there was no way he would spend such money for a pan that he'd never use afterward.

One hour later, he came back with a full belly, a springform pan lent by Anne, and discounted groceries also courtesy of Anne. He needed to find some way to pay her back.

Cooling the cake down needed four hours and not including the process of making the cake. The party would also be in four hours. He was tempted to use the Time Stone. He could already imagine the disappointed face of The Ancient One and the scowl of Mordo. He would just use some magic to cool down the cake.

Stephen put the Graham crackers in a big bowl. He was about to use magic to pulse the crackers but the Cloak brought a big stick and started to hit the crackers enthusiastically. He was thankful that the Sanctum had been sound proofed. Otherwise, his neighbors might wonder why the empty rumored-haunted house next to theirs suddenly had such a ruckus.

"Are you sure? It's your birthday. Let me do the work."

The Cloak answered by turning away and doubled her speed.

"Fine, just do it your way." He winced as pieces of crackers flew of the bowl peppering the table and floor. He automatically thought about the hungry children in some countries.

He drew a deep breath and went to preheat the oven.

As he returned, the Cloak pointed at the sugar and salt. He internally smiled. At least the Cloak still needed him for his opposable thumbs. He put in sugar and salt as Sophie started to mix it enthusiastically again.

He was about to put in the butter when he remembered that he hadn't melted it. He could do it manually but he was pressed for time. He took the measured amount of butter into a small bowl and used magic to melt it. He poured the melted butter into the bowl. The Cloak mixed it rigorously and he was rewarded with a robe splattered with butter and cracker. At least the price of magic this time was minimal.

He smelt some smoke and ran to the oven. He set the temperature too high. He wanted to yank his hair because this was only the crust— he was running out of time.

As he turned the oven off, the alarms he set up when creatures from other dimensions had passed through the rifts he personally had sewn shut went off.

He breathed a sigh of relief. The phrase "save by the bell" came to his mild although it was more like monsters' alarms but who cared.

* * *

 _7 pm, New York's Sanctum Sanctorum_

Christine rang the doorbell to the Sanctum. She was amazed that there was a doorbell to such a place. She thought the door would open automatically by magic. As if on cue, Stephen opened the door as the first rang ended. He was dressed in his blue T-shirt and jeans. The Cloak waved at her using her right collar before flying to the direction of the pantry.

She stepped in through the foyer and immediately welcomed by the warmth and the smell of cheesecake.

"Let me get your coat." She dutifully took off her coat and Stephen took it to hang it in one of his study rooms on the right.

"Where's the party?"

"In the pantry. Shall we?" He offered his right arm. Christine hooked her left arm. She could still feel the slight tremor in his arms. Hoping he wouldn't notice, she examined him. He didn't seem to be in pain so it was a good day. She moved closer to feel the warmth of his body. The Cloak flew out of the pantry to wrap their shoulders, forcing her to move even closer to Stephen. Stephen didn't seem to notice as he seemed to be super excited about the party.

As he opened the door, he said "Ta-Da."

She was glad that Stephen sometime still behaved like an actual five-year old even after joining the cult.

There was a medium sized table right in the middle of the pantry; a perfect strawberry cheesecake stood on top of it with a single candle. The candle didn't melt so she guessed some magic was involved. There was also a vase of red roses on the right and a bottle of champagne on the left. She raised her eyebrows as she didn't expect Stephen to be able to afford champagne with his cult stipend.

As if reading her mind, he quickly answered, "It's from Wakanda. T'Challa sent it as thank you gift as I closed the rift to the Nidler Dimension last month."

"Of course."

Closing rifts and fighting interdimensional demons seem to be a normal Tuesday for Stephen. She was both proud and worried for him. Stephen always put 150% into everything he was into. It was a great that he saved lives in a larger scale, but he was a complete idiot in protecting himself. That was the reason she created a chatgroup consisting of her, Wong, and some other sorcerers in Kamar-Taj she could immediately contact in case the idiot hurt himself. To the surprise of no one, the chat group was quite busy. She was tempted to add more medical doctors into the group but not everybody as open minded as her about magic and a lot of doctors and nurses were still not convinced that Stephen had changed a lot.

"I'm surprised that the pantry is still intact and you managed to make the cake."

Stephen pulled a chair on the right and let Christine sat. The Cloak floated to wrap herself around the back of the chair next to hers. He chuckled. "You should drop by around three hours ago. It was a disaster zone here. Luckily, duty called. There were some tentacle monsters in New Orleans." Only Stephen would say fighting tentacle monsters as lucky. "I had the excuse to clean everything up using magic and bought the cake. Apparently buying it is more economical if we don't plan to bake cake regularly. Besides, the manager at Eileen owed me a favor as I helped to exorcise his niece so he gave me 70% discount. He wanted to give me the cake but I didn't want any charity. He said he could use his employee's discount. I think he just use his personal money to pay for it. I also bought Lo Mein and Kung Pao Chicken using UberEat." He went to pick up the dinner boxes and deposited in front of her.

Right on cue, there was a yellow sparkle blossoming at the far corner of kitchen. Wong stepped through it with a bowl of Channa Masala. Christine quickly pulled out her own gift that she put on her purse. She forgot about the gift as she was too stunned with the non-disaster. She gave her gift to the Cloak. Sophie looked at the voucher for perfume and nodded enthusiastically at her.

Stephen rolled his eyes at Wong. "Cutting too close, aren't you?"

Wong just deposited the box in front of Sophie. "The library doesn't run itself." He stared at the cake. "I'm surprised that you managed to create the cake without any disaster."

"I'm truly insulted with this lack of trust by both of you. _I_ can bake a cake."

"Did you bake this cake?" Wong smirked as he sat on the left of the Cloak.

Stephen chewed his lower lip. "No. But I'd totally finish baking the cake if those monsters didn't turn up." The Cloak backed him up by slapping Wong lightly on his shoulder before flying to settle on Stephen's shoulders. The doctor patted the left collar using his right hand. "Thanks for the support, buddy. It's your birthday so you should just relax." She complied and flew back to her chair.

Christine laughed and patted the Cloak. "You're surely a great friend that Stephen doesn't deserve."

"Hey!"

Wong chimed in. "I totally agree with Christine. What does the Cloak see in you?"

"I see. It's gang on Stephen's day."

The Cloak flew to wrap herself around Stephen then dragged and deposited him between Wong and Christine. Stephen crossed his arms in front of his chest. "I thought you were on my side."

Wong looked at Christine as if the Master of New York Sanctum was transparent. "I don't know about you but I'm famished."

"Me too." Christine smiled as she stroked Stephen's back. She smiled as she knew Stephen tried very hard not to purr whenever she did this to him.

"Doctor Palmer, you've me at a disadvantage." Stephen complained as he leaned in closer to her.

Two hours later, Stephen offered to open a portal to her apartment. Christine felt pretty content. She hadn't felt that in the past few months due to stress. Considering the company she kept this evening, it was truly a miracle.

Stephen could be a charming host if he wanted to. He provided a self-filling bowl of ice cream for her so it never ran out. She really needed to learn that spell. Wong provided good music; although listening him bickering with Stephen about songs and the singers was far more entertaining.

The Cloak was also happy with her gifts. Wong gave her a spell so that she could turn invisible when she wanted to. Christine thought it was more for Stephen's benefit as the Cloak seemed to put Stephen's safety as her main goal. It'd also be a great joke to call Sophie the Cloak of Invisibility. She needed to check whether the term was trademarked by Harry Potter before joking about it in public.

Stephen, the softie, actually invented a spell so the Cloak could change her color on a whim. Wong rolled his eyes saying that invisibility was more useful but the Cloak seemed to really enjoy it as she was turning from blue to purple to turquoise to multi-color. Wong said it was not a competition then immediately opened a portal back to Kamar-Taj carrying boxes of leftover.

"Thank you for the great and not strange evening. I thought I'd be a disaster." She pecked at his cheek.

"You're welcome despite the lack of confidence." He leaned in closer and kissed her on the forehead.

She shivered at the contact. "We should do this more often."

"The birthday party?! I hope not. This's too stressful."

Sophie passed by and smacked his cheek gently before flying upstairs.

She wondered whether his cluelessness was on purpose but it was too cute. She liked this new and improved Stephen. "Never change."

"Which part?"

She sighed. At least it was a great party.

* * *

 _Note:_

-I planned to use an actual recipe from my friend but couldn't find it so Stephen ended with more "complex" recipe in simplyrecipes dot com/recipes/perfect_cheesecake/  
-Yes, I knew I wrote this in October 2018 so let's just pretend it was still the same day :)  
-Appparently Eileen's (eileenscheesecake dot com ) had the best cheesecake according to Google. I'm in no way affiliated to Eileen's.


End file.
